Easy Salted Caramel Fudge

Easy Salted Caramel Fudge is a Foodie with Family classic and an excellent way to kick off our Saturday Sweets feature. Each Saturday we’ll feature a sweet or dessert recipe; some new and some classic, but all delicious.

My eldest son is about to turn 20 (TWENTY!) and my youngest is about to be 12. I find it absolutely incomprehensible that those babies I held in my arms just twenty and twelve years ago are as big as they are and that my eldest (MY BAYBAY) has completed his first year of college. I’m feeling a little old and weepy.

This is a time for self-medication with food, friends.

That’s right. When I’m feeling like time is slipping away from me too quickly, there’s nothing that stops the clock for just a moment or two like a small square of something sweet and ridiculously indulgent. Case in point? Easy Salted Caramel Fudge.

It’s a little dangerous just how simple this Easy Salted Caramel Fudge is to make; it only takes 5 ingredients (six if you’d like to add a little bourbon to the mix, as I most often do) and none of them are tough to find. Well, they’re not hard to find unless you live in a dry town, then you just have to drive a little further if you want that little kiss of bourbon in there.

Don’t worry if you are not a fan of alcohol or using it in cooking, the fudge is also delicious made without it! And as for the actual process of making the fudge, I’m telling you it’s about as easy as aging.

Sigh.

Are you wondering why I’d bother putting bourbon in my fudge? There’s something about the slight smoky caramel notes of bourbon that matches ever so perfectly with the gooey, creamy, salted caramel and dark chocolate.

The bourbon also has a way of giving the Easy Salted Caramel Fudge a little something something most fudges don’t have; complexity and sophistication. Like things that come with age.

DANGIT. How about a video to prove how easy this Easy Salted Caramel Fudge really is?

Okay. So I’m going to eat a couple of squares of Easy Salted Caramel Fudge and have a bourbon on the side. (Which would be a pretty spectacular holiday party dessert combo now that I think of it.)

Cook’s Notes

When I make candies or confections, I like to have a little insurance policy in place that will guarantee my ability to remove the goodies from the pan or vessel in which they were made. I’m a control freak like that. My method is a simple one. I spray the pan with my favourite non-stick cooking spray, press a piece of parchment in place that comes up the sides of the pan (so it can act as a sling by being grabbed on both sides if need be) and spray the parchment, too. Overkill? Perhaps, but my stuff doesn’t stick, and I’m not left to weep salty tears as my fudge needs to be chiseled out of the pan.

I know someone out there is wondering whether the recipe for Easy Salted Caramel Fudge can be doubled, after all, ’tis the season for candy making! Yes. Double away! Triple it even! You’re limited only by the size of the bowl for your double boiler and the pan in which you plan to set your fudge.

Yep. I said double boiler. It doesn’t need to be a fancy, expensive, dedicated contraption. Any old stainless steel bowl perched over a saucepan of simmering water will do the trick. The only limitation here is that you don’t want the bottom of the bowl sitting down in the water. It needs to be a bit above it so the steam from the water is heating the bowl, not the sides of the pan or the simmering water. The goal with a double boiler is a gentle, controlled heat that prevents the chocolate from seizing (in other words, hardening in unpleasant ways!) Seized chocolate is sad.

The bourbon is absolutely strictly optional. If you are opposed to using alcohol or sensitive to its presence, you can substitute additional vanilla extract for the bourbon specified in the recipe. It will still be delicious.

If you go with the bourbon, which bourbon should you use? You don’t need the fanciest bourbon here, but it should be one that’s pleasant for sipping. Benchmark is an inexpensive (yet still award winning) brand that is great for the job.

For the salted caramel portion of the Easy Salted Caramel Fudge, I’m partial to using my homemade Slow Cooker No-Stir Dulce de Leche {in jars} , but you can oh-so-definitely use purchased dulce de leche (commonly available at Walmarts, better stocked grocery stores, and ethnic markets). I’d avoid caramel sauce in squeeze bottles or jars of caramel sundae toppings, though, as they don’t behave quite the same way as dulce de leche.

Salt? Yeah, man. If you are here often, you probably know where I’m going with this. I adore Maldon Sea Salt Flakes for sprinkling over sweets because I love the crunch and the translucent, jewel-like, irregular pyramid shapes. If you can’t lay your hands on it or can’t justify the cost (but the salt is PRETTY! Who doesn’t love pretty salt?) you can use any coarse flake sea salt and it will still be tasty!

I’m going to advise you to cut very small cubes of the fudge (about 1/2-inch or 1-inch square) This stuff is RICH, friends.

When it comes to slicing the fudge, it’s easiest if you heat your knife up with a hair dryer between slices. Alternatively, you can run extremely hot tap water over your knife and then wipe it dry before attempting to cut down into the fudge. I find my favourite knife for the job is a big, sturdy, good old fashioned chef’s knife or meat carving knife.

If you’re looking for a super fun, super easy, super popular hostess gift or homemade food gift for the holidays, you can buy an inexpensive 8-inch by 8-inch pan and prepare the fudge in it as directed. Wrap the pan in pretty plastic wrap, add a ribbon, bow or other frou-frou loveliness, and gift a giant slab o’fudge to the people you love most.

Also needed:

an 8-inch by 8-inch square pan

non-stick cooking spray

parchment paper

Instructions

Lightly spray an 8-inch by 8-inch pan with non-stick cooking spray. Press a piece of parchment in that rises up the sides of the pan on at least 2 sides. Lightly spray the parchment with non-stick cooking spray and set it aside.

Add the sweetened condensed milk, chopped chocolate or chocolate chips, unsalted butter, bourbon, and vanilla to a stainless steel bowl and place it over a saucepan that has 2 inches of boiling water in it. Drop the heat on the burner to low, and stir gently, but constantly until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Pour into the prepared pan.

Gently heat up the dulce de leche until it can be poured. I use the microwave for this because it's done very quickly. Drizzle over the top of the fudge and use a butterknife or skewer to swirl the fudge and dulce de leche together. Sprinkle coarse sea salt flakes over the top. Place the pan (uncovered) in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight before removing from the pan and slicing into small cubes. Store leftover fudge in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Nutrition Facts

Easy Salted Caramel Fudge

Amount Per Serving

Calories 98Calories from Fat 54

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 6g9%

Saturated Fat 4g20%

Cholesterol 4mg1%

Sodium 1mg0%

Potassium 81mg2%

Total Carbohydrates 7g2%

Dietary Fiber 1g4%

Sugars 5g

Vitamin A1%

Calcium0.9%

Iron5%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Not Your Mama’s Canning Book: Modern Canned Goods and What to Make with Them is available to order through these fine retailers!

This post was originally published November 19th, 2014. Updated December 2, 2015 and November 10, 2017.

Ha, Kristen! You’re hilarious! I don’t actually know whether this would work in the microwave. I’m imagining it probably would, but I didn’t test it. If you’d like to give it a trial run and let me know how it works out, that’d be awesome for other folks wondering the same thing. I’d do it, but my willpower would BUCKLE if I had another tray of fudge in the house. 😀

I am back to report it was a fantastic success! I put it all in a glass bowl, microwaved it in 35 second intervals until it was completely melted, and stirred the daylights out of it with my wooden spoon… and lo, perfect fudge!

It is amazing when our kids grow up. How did that happen? You love them at every age, but it would be nice to have like a 3 yr old clone in the closet that you could get out and read a story to while they snuggled. Yes eating fudge would a most excellent way to feel better. Caramel fudge is beyond fudge in my book.

I noticed that many of the comments were from people who hadn’t actually made this recipe. I have to say the flavor was delicious. I loved the hint of bourbon. Having said that, don’t expect to be able to cut it into squares and take it to a party. It is too soft to cut, even straight from the fridge. By the time it reaches room temperature, we’ll need a spoon. Just a heads up.

Hi Lisa- Thanks for weighing in. It sounds like you had an issue with the fudge making because mine needed to be cut with a hot knife to get through it cleanly. Is it possible that you accidentally used a 12 ounce bag of chocolate chips or chunks instead of a full pound of chocolate?

Tried this today – swirled in some leftover toffee bits as well as the caramel. It’s been chilling a couple of hours, but is still quite soft. Also, WAY too much vanilla! And I didn’t even add the extra tablespoon (thank goodness!). Hoping it’s more set by tomorrow morning, and some of the “burn” from so much vanilla has faded as well. Also, used a pound of milk chocolate and ended up using the microwave as the bowl I was using for a double boiler wasn’t working at all.

Loved this recipe! Made it for my mother for mothers day! Although I used melted caramel chips instead of dulce de leche and I didn’t use the bourbon, I followed all the other directions exactly. I am going to share my results with my readers on my blog siting this website and recipe! Hope you don’t mind the extra traffic directed towards this awesome website!

I made this last year for the holidays and it was a huge success at the office. I even made it for the super bowl with a little football shaped cookie cutter and white frosting tube to add the laces……again a huge hit. I will be making them again next week. Easy and delicious.

This came out so good! (I posted it to my instagram if you want to see: @itslindseydiane) I only wish I’d been able to find the pretty flaked salt that you used- I just substituted course salt and it was fine. Thanks for the recipe!

This recipe could not be any easier and the results are AWESOME!!! I made these for Christmas last year and again this year for friends and family. Because they are so rich, one pan goes a long way. It is now one of my Christmas go-tos.

So I just made this fudge and I tried to find all the ingredients (I’m from Germany)- and so I had to improvise a bit. And I think it still turned out great! The texture is perfect. Thank you for this recipe!!! Yummie!

Not being in your kitchen, it’s hard to say exactly what went wrong, but you may have used too little chocolate (the mistake is sometimes made when using chocolate chips instead of chopped chocolate as not all chocolate chip bags contain 1 pound or 16 ounces). As I said, I’m just guessing since I wasn’t there, but I’ve made this close to 100 times and had it work every time, so I know the recipe is sound. Did you use a double boiler and check the ounces on your container of sweetened condensed milk? And just to confirm, you used sweetened condensed milk and not evaporated milk, right?

Ohhh that’s probably it! I used chocolate chips. I referenced the conversion of cups to pounds so it was probably not exact. I’ll be honest if still spooning some of it out of a container. Didn’t want to let it all go to waste. Thank you for getting back to me. I’ll definitely try it again.

No worries, Gina!! Dulce de leche is a caramel sauce made by slowly heating sweetened milk (like sweetened condensed milk) until it caramelizes. It’s thick and brown and wonderful. You can purchase it ready made in the hispanic foods or European foods aisles or you can make your own using these instructions!

Are you sure it’s 3 TABLEspoons of vanilla (per your recipe), and not 3 TEAspoons? The vanilla is overpowering. Mine was also soft, but after leaving it in the fridge for a couple of days, it’s now more like fudge consistency. I weighed the semi-sweet chocolate chips, so I know that isn’t the problem.

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